What Is Your Big Idea? In order to succeed, you need to have a vision, a big idea, that animates you. You want to make the world a better place. You want a masters degree. You want to start a business. The problem with big ideas, however, is that they can be abstract. Big ideas will not succeed, unless one is willing to take on the many specific, often menial tasks and actions, over a long period of time. To be successful, one must ask: “What does “getting a master’s degree” actually look like on a Tuesday afternoon?” “What does “starting a business” look like in the next fifteen minutes? The problem with the specific tasks, however, is that the passion evaporates. It is relatively easy to be inspired by a big idea, it is much harder to maintain that inspiration when engaged in a specific action at a specific moment, because this moment does not seem to be able to capture the intensity of the big idea, the big vision. To succeed we need to harness the passion of the big idea, even while engaged in the detail. We must focus our attention on how this detail is part of a bigger picture. I am not calling a client, I am creating a business. I am not shopping for groceries, I am creating a shabbat meal where I will experience connection with my family and with G-d. This pattern explains the Torah's description of the story of the giving of the Torah at SInai. At first, in last week’s portion we read the story of the revelation, the general description of the story, and the ten commandments. Following the ten commandments we read, in this week’s portion, how to bring the vision of the Torah into the specifics of daily life, in the specifics of civil law, regulating the daily interactions between people. At the end of our portion, the Torah returns to describe the story of the preparation and the experience of Sinai. Because the Torah is teaching us not to lose the vision in the details. To remember that the purpose of the specific laws and regulations is to experience the greater vision, the covenant with G-d. The pattern of leading a successful life is connecting to a big idea, implementing it in daily specific tasks and habits, and then once again experiencing the big idea.
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